The market for scrubbers, adsorbers, absorbers, and biofilters will reach $6.6 billion in 2013, with 36 percent of this revenue coming from East Asia, according to the latest forecast in

The market for scrubbers, adsorbers, absorbers, and biofilters will reach $6.6 billion in 2013, with 36 percent of this revenue coming from East Asia, according to the latest forecast in the Scrubber/Adsorber/Biofilter World Markets report, by the McIlvaine Company.

In East Asia, mining, chemical, iron and steel, waste incineration, pulp and paper, and refining will be the major applications for scrubber technology, according to the forecast. Food and beverage, electronics, and odor control for municipal wastewater plants will also be substantial applications.

Another factor McIlvaine Company points out is countries in East Asia are expanding waste-to-energy plant capacity, with China expanding its capacity faster than any other country, and scrubbers are used at these types of plants.

McIlvaine explains scrubbers are used for both particulate control and gas absorption. Adsorbers are used mainly for gas treatment when the loadings are low. Biofilters are used to capture organic emissions from municipal sewage treatment plants and food processing. Absorbers are used to capture gaseous emissions.

The report does not include absorbers used for process mass transfer in chemicals and refining. Nor does it include scrubbers used for flue gas desulfurization in power plants, which is covered in a separate McIlvaine report.